The Evolution of Hotel Design

Since the 1960s, we've seen "total look" hotels, the birth of overwater bungalows, the boutiquification of properties, and the race to build the tallest hotel in the world. Here, a timeline of hotel design evolution.

Rendering courtesy Heatherwick Studio

Since the 1960s, we've seen "total look" hotels, the birth of overwater bungalows, the boutiquification of properties, and the race to build the tallest hotel in the world. Here, a timeline of hotel design evolution.

pictured: Thomas Heatherwick’s unrealized Hong Kong hotel of jumbled boxes, which caused a stir when it was planned in 2012. It looked like a mirage in the sky—and remains just that: a fantasy.

2004

2004

Mid-2000s

Armani, Missoni (pictured), Bulgari—you’re out of fashion if you haven’t opened a hotel.

Photo courtesy The Jane

2008

On the heels of stylized motels and trailers, The Jane’s “sailor’s cabins” in N.Y.C. prove that nostalgia reigns.

Courtesy Ritz-Carlton

Late 2000s

The race is on in Asia, with Shangri-La and others competing for title of Highest Hotel. (The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong, pictured, was the leader in 2011 at 1,601 feet—surpassed now by JW Marriott Marquis in Dubai, a whopping 1,164.7 feet.)

Photo courtesy Keith Levit Photography/Getty Images

2014

Roman and Williams’s retrofit of the Chicago Athletic Club cements the mantra: Reuse, recycle, reinvent.